Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c14.8

c14.8

The śūdra is called helot, but such a characterisation cannot be made without reservations. The helots could be occasionally recruited in the army, but Kauṭilya alone prefers recruitment of the vaiśyas and śūdras on the ground of their numerical strength. Manu is dead against the enrolment of the śūdras, the apprehension being that they might turn their arms against their recruiters. More importantly, the helots lay under the general control of the state which was identical with the citizenry of Sparta. However although the śūdras were considered to be the subordinates of the twice-born comprising the three higher varṇas, the vaiśyas who were mainly peasants could not be regarded as identical with the state power. Further, the agrarian production of Sparta was run primarily by the servile class of helots, but in India independent peasants called vaiśyas played a vital role in agriculture. Helotry is called undeveloped slavery; in a sense śūdrahood can be called undeveloped helotry, for the śūdras were not so thoroughly under the control of the state as the helots were.